Honesty or the Bottom Dollar?

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Is honesty the best policy in name only, or does actual practice mean something to people? I am honest. I can't help but be honest. When someone asks me a question, I'll give them an honest answer--I won't try to sell them on something that isn't what they're looking for, I won't tell them something is better than it is. I just...can't.

Today a customer came in looking for a product called Penofin. Home Despot does not carry Penofin. For some reason, they decided to carry some crap product instead, probably because Crap is cheaper than Best. This, I've decided, is Company Policy (but that is another story.)

The customer needed something to help save wood on trucking docks or truck beds or something involving trucking and lots of heavy machinery ("If you can think of it, it will be driving on there" were the exact words.) I told him the truth. I told him that Colonial Lumber three blocks up the road carried Penofin, that I wouldn't recommend anything I carried for that kind of wear and tear, that Penofin was worth the extra money because it would last longer, which meant that the price differential (which wasn't that big to begin with) shrunk to pennies once the cost of refinishing it again in six months was factored in.

He thanked me for my honesty. His buddy gave a -up and walked away mumbling, "you are the most helpful at not helping." I don't know what I did that made him so ornery. His buddy knew what he wanted. I didn't have what he wanted, so I told him where he could get it. It will make him happier in the long run than if he had bought some crap wood finish right then instead of driving THREE BLOCKS north to the local Colonial Lumber. I don't understand.

So a few hours go by, and then a baby-manager (department supervisor) FROM A DIFFERENT DEPARTMENT comes up and asks me why I tell customers to go elsewhere for products when we have what they need in the store. I told him that, no, as a matter of fact we DON'T carry what he wanted, that Colonial Lumber does, and that he now knows I put HIM above the Holy Bottom Dollar. He didn't get it and gave me some spiel about sales and I just kind of tuned him out.

Twenty minutes later an ASSISTANT MANAGER comes up and asks me the same question. I kid you not. I ask her if the customer was complaining. "No," she said. "He actually called to say you were very helpful." Say what? So here I am getting kudos from a customer, and all management is doing is giving me a hard time? I don't get it.

I guess I don't understand. I would LOVE it if someone was honest instead of selling me something inferior to boost sales. I have decided that no one at this store understand customer care, which is evident in dropping numbers all across the board. If we carry crap and sell crap to raise the bottom line instead of investing in quality, of COURSE customers are going to go elsewhere. People aren't stupid! Anyway.

Was I wrong to be so honest? Should I have sold him something less, even though it wouldn't have worked as well? Should I have just told him the stuff we sell is just as good--better, even, because it's cheaper? Should I have told a little fib so the store could make an extra $50 or so? Should I have just gone and gotten someone else who CAN lie? Or should I just stick to what works, what keeps people coming to ask my opinion on something rather than other people who work at the store? Should I do what gets me kudos from customers or kudos from management? (I need the job for another 5 months, or I would just walk out.)

This is normal and desevres a thead unto itself.

I am a small contractor basicly, just me, I like your attitude and apreicate when I get honest answers but thats not what management wants if you want to keep the job be careful what you say if its something your unsure of how they'll take it get someone else to sucker them in. I tell people all the time different things they could do and am honest about some people just don't like it or expect it. I have the problem of being underbid by people who are not honest and are not giveing them what they want. To get a low bid they tack on lots of stuff I'm aready doing as extras then bill them more than my orginal cost or sell them stuff they dont need. All this adds to the general distrust of contactors. the same goes for your store. Thank you for being honest. As for your problem maybe Colonial Lumber needs help .

Not at all. Well done for being so honest. The customer may not have found what he wanted on that particular occasion. However, he will remember that you took the trouble to ensure that he could get the product that he wanted. The next time that he wants something, he’ll remember your helpful attitude, and that will reflect well on your store. He may well come back and make further purchases, because of that. A good manager will realise that this can create customers that keep returning. You deserve praise from your manager, not criticism.